


Another Sleepless Night

by Methoxyethane



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Comedy, Fluff, Incubus Lio, M/M, Succubi & Incubi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-01-27 10:17:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21390517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methoxyethane/pseuds/Methoxyethane
Summary: Two things were clear - Lio couldn’t go home until Galo made a wish, and Galo couldn’t think of anything he wanted badly enough to bother asking a demon for.And what did that resulting standstill mean for Galo? It meant he had an annoyed incubus in his apartment and no idea what to do with him.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 24
Kudos: 373





	1. Chapter 1

It all started with a craft fair. Yes that’s correct, an arts festival in downtown Promepolis he’d gone to with Lucia had been the source of the strangest series of events in Galo’s life, and he didn’t regret a single part about them.

Technically, the art fair had been several months ago, and had nothing itself to do with meeting Lio. But it was where he’d bought the one woven rug he’d put on his living room floor, and THAT was where the trouble started.

Galo had been washing dishes in the kitchen of his small apartment, as one does, and he’d happened to drop and break a mug he’d been washing, as one from time to time does as well. And he’d happened to step on a shard of the broken ceramic, and naturally cut the bottom of his foot open a little bit. 

He hadn’t even noticed he was bleeding as he cleaned up the larger chunks of broken mug. So he didn’t notice that it was STILL bleeding when he went back into his living room looking for the broom and dustpan in the hall closet, and didn’t notice when he got blood on directly on the patterned lines of his carpet. 

Not until the spot of blood started glowing, that was. The bright red glow did catch his eye, and he watched as the tiny drops of blood grew into a giant stain that was far too big for the small amount of blood Galo had lost, growing far too fast and far too dark like the single drop of blood spilled was opening up into a gaping hole directly in his floor.

“Well that’s not right,” Galo said into the hole. 

The hole responded by setting itself on fire.

Galo jumped back, the years of firefighter’s training responding to his body before any of the rest of his brain could comprehend what was going on. But that training wasn’t enough to help him watch in confused horror as it shaped itself, the pillar of flame that had burst from his floor coalescing into the form of a human shape. 

The flames sizzled out and the hole in the floor closed up all at once, and Galo was left with a person standing in his living room and looking around at his walls with a judgemental sort of attitude. 

“What’s this, a prison or something?” The flame person, who was actually much shorter and blonder than someone who was apparently made of fire should probably be, aksed. 

“Hey,” Galo frowned. “I like my apartment! You don’t have to insult where I live after just barging in like that!”

The tiny blonde shot a glare at Galo. “I take it you’re the one who summoned me?”

Galo shook his head. “No one summoned anyone or anything! I was just doing the dishes, but you can leave my home before I am forced to escort you out, please!”

The fire being ignored him, looking down at the floor. “We’re literally standing on my sigil. I can SMELL your blood, I can feel the contract written in our veins binding us together. I don’t know what you’re playing at by summoning me here then telling me to leave, but you’ll find I’m not a patient or forgiving demon.”

A demon? Well, he’d come out of the floor in a ring of fire, so it was almost harder NOT to believe than to ignore him. Still, what was Galo doing with a demon in his room? And what did he mean by sigil?

Galo looked at the floor himself now, finally noticed the trail of blood he’d left with his footsteps, leading up to the rug. Noticed that the pattern on the rug could be taken as come kind of magic circle, if one believed in that kind of hokey-pokey. Which Galo might have to start doing, considering the petite demon currently staring him down.

“Oh sorry,” he decided to apologize. “It looks like I may have done that after all. But it was just an accident from when I stepped on my rug, so we can just ignore it and you can go on back home now.”

The demon snorted pissily, a small plume of smoke puffing out with the angry little breath. “An accident?” He sneered, casting his pink eyes - which were kind of prettier than they were scary - down at the floor again. “A rug - is my fucking magic sigil woven into your RUG? You didn’t even have the decency to carve it into the flesh of a sacred beast, you just wove it into a rug to STAND ON?”

Once again, Galo shook head head. “I bought it like that!” He announced with cheer, giving the demon a thumbs up.

Th demon’s jaw dropped in horror. “You bought it? You BOUGHT my magic sigil, the sigil unique to summon a contract with me and me alone, the High Archdemon Lio Fotia? My sigil is being mass produced for humans everywhere to… wipe their dirty FEET on?!” He all but screeched in rage. If his deep voice was capable of screeching, which. It was getting up there.

“Nope,” Galo said, reassuring the demon with a pat on his tiny shoulder. “The artist said they were all one of a kind! Only I’ve ever wiped my dirty feet on your sigil!”

The demon - Or Lio, he’d loudly announced his name as - did not look reassured. Instead he batted Galo’s hand off his shoulder, glaring at the firefighter and snapping his fingers. 

In an instant the rug under their feet had set itself on fire, and Galo leaped off the burning carpet just in time for the bright pink flames to fizzle out, leaving nothing but a pile of ash under Lio’s feet.

“Aw man,” Galo sighed. “I liked that rug. It really tied to room together.”

Lio shot him another glare. Galo was already used to them from most of the other people who had ever met or talked to him before, so he continued on. “Did you need something from me? Other than to set my carpet on fire? I’m happy to help if you need it but I need to tell you if you set anything else on fire I’m gonna have to turn you in for arson.”

Scoffing, the demon put his hands on his hips to lean in towards Galo. “I’m supposed to be the one asking you that!” The stance, while probably supposed to make him look more intimidating, only served to highlight how slender and quite frankly cute his frame was. Not to mention what the pout was doing for his face. Were demons supposed to be this cute? “You summoned me here, that means I have to grant you one wish. Just ask for something fast so I can go home!”

“Oh is that what’s going on?” Galo said dumbly. That sounded easy enough in theory, but… “There’s nothing I really want, though.”

Lio sighed. “I don’t care! Ask for something! Anything! Just make a wish! Wish for a new rug for you stupid prison cell for all I care!”

“But I could just buy a new rug,” Galo said reasonably. “And this isn’t a cell! This is a totally nice apartment, thank you! It’s got almost three separate rooms, PLUS my own bathroom!”

Lio’s face fell flat. “Who ARE you?” He finally asked, almost to himself. 

“Galo Thymos, firefighter extraordinaire! Pleased to make your acquaintance!”

The demon buried his face in his hands. 

The conversation went on like that for a while, but two things were clear - Lio couldn’t go home until Galo made a wish, and Galo couldn’t think of anything he wanted badly enough to bother asking a demon for.

And what did that resulting standstill mean for Galo? It meant he had an annoyed demon in his apartment and no idea what to do with him.

“It’s my day off,” Galo eventually said to the demon sitting on his couch and tapping his foot impatiently. “So I’ve got errands to run in town that need to be done today. You can come with if you want, but I think I’d feel a little weird just leaving you in my apartment by yourself so… Yeah! You can just come with me!” He looked at the all-leather and straps outfit the demon was wearing. He shouldn’t stand out too much, especially if they both took Galo’s motorcycle.

Lio stopped tapping his foot but didn’t stop looking annoyed. “Fine,” he said, standing up. “I shouldn’t leave you by yourself anyway.”

He brought Lio down to the building’s garage, where Galo had the privilege of having an assigned parking space for his unit. In a city like Promepolis, parking was a rare luxury. That’s why having a small vehicle like a motorcycle could sometimes be a godsend, but sometimes be just as much of a burden.

He had brought both his regular helmet and his spare down with him, handing the spare to the demon and hoping it fit the smaller man. Demon. De-man. “Here,” Galo said. “Rules of the road, no helmet no riding.”

Lio shrugged and slipped the helmet on over his fluffy hair, waiting for Galo’s next instruction. Galo swung himself onto the motorcycle and looked back at Lio expectantly, barking out a cheerful, “Well don’t just stand there, get on behind me!”

The bike shifted with the newly added weight of Lio’s body on the back end.

“Closer than that,” Galo ordered, gesturing for Lio to scoot forward. “You have to put your arms around my waist, or when we take off you’ll go flying off the bike.”

“Flying?” Lio said dubiously, looking down at the motorcycle he was seated on through the gaze of his helmet’s visor. “Is this a flying machine? It’s mostly made of wheel, how does it get off the ground?”

“It doesn’t get off the ground,” Galo laughed. “But trust me, this baby makes you FEEL like your flying!”

Lio looked disappointed. “You know I can fly for real, right?”

But Galo was already taking off, revving up the engines and pulling out of the parking space with a quick turn that did indeed have Lio grabbing at the back of Galo’s shirt to steady himself.

Galo was excited to take his bike out on the main roads and really show Lio some speed, but the traffic was too thick today and they ended up all but puttering along to their destination. Lio had no trouble steadying himself but still kept one hand clutching the back of Galo’s jacket, his presence warm behind Galo the whole ride.

Mostly Galo had a little bit of grocery shopping to do, as he’d run out of food and been living off ordered pizzas for days now. “Hey, are you gonna be eating too? I mean for as long as you’ll be staying with me, do you need food?”

“I’d like to eat if it’s an option, but I don’t particularly need to,” Lio said, looking around at all the colored displays of wares on the shelves. “What is all of this, anyway? Where are we?”

“Food!” Galo answered. “Everything here is food! We’re at a grocery store, because I ran out of food at home and this is one of the ways humans have to get more!”

“Sounds more convenient than hunting and farming that’s for sure,” Lio said, almost sounding impressed. “Not that a high level Archdemon such as myself needs to eat. But lower demons do, so I understand what it’s like to struggle to gather resources.”

Galo whistled, low. “You do? So what, even demons help each other out?”

“But of course,” Lio said haughtily. “I have an entire tribe of demons under my command. The very first thing a good leader does is keep his own armies fed and alive.”

So he was some kind of fancy leader huh? That was pretty cool! How weird that someone like that had ended up in Galo’s living room. “Well while you’re here, you can get any kind of food you want! Just keep in mind, only about two grocery bags fit on my bike at a time, so we can only get as much as we can carry.”

“I don’t know what any of this is anyway,” Lio shrugged. “Let’s just hurry up and get out of here.”

“Aw, don’t be like that! We can have fun while we’re here! There’s free samples!”

Lio blinked up at him, big pink eyes shining with curiosity. “Samples of food?”

Galo grinned at him. 

The first free sample they found was for a guacamole dip, so there were crackers set out with the tiny cups of dip. Galo grabbed one and gestured for Lio to do the same, eating it right there at the stand so he could throw away the paper cup in the wastebasket when they were done. 

Also, so he could watch as Lio tried it. Watch the way he stuck the cracker into his tiny mouth, watched the way his eyes widened in surprise. He really was too cute to be a demon.

“This is good,” Lio said, sounding surprised. “You said I could get whatever I wanted. Can I get this?”

Galo laughed. “You’re gonna say that at every sample stand in the store!”

Lio, huffed, face turning just a little bit red at the edges. “It’s been centuries since I tried human food! I didn’t know it had evolved like this, that’s all!”

Still laughing, Galo grabbed a tub of guacamole dip and threw it in their basket.

As he’d predicted, Lio liked absolutely everything they tried, from the fresh bread in the bakery to the cheese logs in the frozen foods section. They couldn’t get everything they tried though so he had Lio pick out his favorites, only buying a few of the things he liked most while Galo bought the rest of the staples he actually needed to properly feed himself and his new guest.

By the time they got through the line and packed their groceries onto the bike, traffic had cleared up. Galo grinned, gunning it through the streets with glee and finally forcing Lio to wrap his small arms around Galo’s waist lest he fall off the bike.

“Well?” he asked then they got back to his apartment. “What did you think of my bike? Pretty sweet ride, right?”

“Not quite the same as flying,” Lio said coldly, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. “But it was almost as much fun.”

Galo grinned, patting him on the back hard enough to give Lio’s small shoulders a little shove. “Let’s go make dinner!”

He led him into the kitchen, where Lio was of course useless in actually helping to put away the groceries. And he was useless in cooking, even though he did watch Galo make the fried rice and shrimp with rapt attention.

He was even more interested in eating it, of course. After one bite his eyes sparkled, and he all but devoured the rest of his bowl in a matter of minutes. Which hey, matched how Galo ate his own dinner anyway, so it was all good with him. A compliment to the chef or something, right?

“What’s wrong, don’t they have fried rice where you come from?”

Lio’s response was a shrug, still eating. “I wouldn’t know, back in the Demon Realm I save my share of food for those who actually need it. I feed off energy, and the air in the Demon Realm is ripe with magic to fill my needs.”

“Uhhh,” Galo trailed off, confused. “Whatever that means, it’s not good not to eat!” He filled up Lio’s plate with even more fried rice. “Here, take as much as you can! You’re so tiny, you definitely need as much food as you can get!”

Lio rolled his eyes. “I’m thousands of years old, mortal. I’m officially as tall as I’ll ever get.”

Galo patted a hand on Lio’s head. “Doesn’t mean you couldn’t stand to get a little more meat on your bones! I feel like if I shook you too hard I might break you!”

“Trust me,” Lio put down his spoon to smirk up at Galo with a flutter his his long eyelashes. “There’s nothing you could do that would break me.”

Galo wasn’t sure why, but the words made him swallow, a fluttering deep in his belly.

After dinner Galo sat Lio down on the other end of his couch so they could watch TV, wanting finally sit down and unwind after such a long, weird day. Fortunately the television itself only took minor explaining to Lio, which was good because frankly speaking Galo wasn’t good at explaining anything to anyone, so thank goodness Lio caught on fast.

“We have something like this in the Demon Realm,” Lio said, sitting with his legs splayed and his chin propped on one fist on the arm of the couch. “We have plays, and we have ways to see what’s happening in far off places, but we never thought to combine the two. I don’t know why that never occurred to anyone.”

Galo grinned. “See? We humans have pretty good ideas sometimes! Wait ‘til I get someone to explain smartphones to you, then you’ll  _ really  _ be impressed with humanity.”

Lio gave him another one of those secret half-smiles. “I’m already getting there.”

They watched TV for a couple of hours, because it was Galo’s day off and it had been a WEIRD day off and while Galo was usually the type of person who got antsy if he held still too long, right now all he wanted was to zone out with the television. 

He got tired before long, yawning into his own fist and glancing over to see Lio casually dozing off on the other side of the couch. “Yeah, I think it’s bedtime,” he announced, stretching his arms out and standing up. 

Lio nodded with a sleepy sigh, slinking up onto his own feet. “I think you’re right.” And then, wordlessly, wandered his ass out of the livingroom and straight into Galo’s bedroom.

Galo blinked. Followed after him. And like… okay, he wasn’t sure what he expected here, but it probably should have been exactly what he saw because Lio had already plopped himself down to lay in Galo’s bed, sighing into the pillow with a contented wiggle. 

“Shut off the lights, would you?” Lio demanded, eyes still closed.

Wordlessly, Galo clicked the light off for him. Looks like he was sleeping on the couch tonight.

It only took less than an hour for Lio’s quiet footsteps to come padding out of Galo’s bedroom and into the now rugless living room. “Galo?” He asked, voice quiet and confused. “What are you doing still on the couch, I thought we were going to bed now?”

Galo blinked, sitting up to look at Lio. He was stipped of all leather and just wearing his fluffy white shirt, long enough to dip down to his meet the tops of his thighs but not long enough to cover up any of the pale skin of his skinny legs, bare all the way down to his dainty little feet. “I… was sleeping on the couch?”

Lio rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He turned around to return to the bedroom, pausing to look over his shoulder. “Come on, I won’t wait for you all night.”

Not entirely certain why he was compelled to do so, Galo followed.

Lio was back in Galo’s bed again, settling in to lie down on the far side and looking at Galo expectantly. Galo swallowed thickly, but sat down on the space left in the bed for him. Looked at Lio who was looking at him. Gave up and lied down, shifting to the far side of his single-sized bed so as to try not to disturb the demon as he went to sleep.

“You’re seriously just going to lie down and sleep? Without doing anything?”

“I brushed my teeth after dinner,” Galo said back into the darkness, not sure what else Lio could mean.

Lio laughed, low and throaty. Scooter closer to Galo in the bed, one hand landing on the firefighter’s arm and slowly stroking up and down the length of it. For the first time in his life, Galo wished he hadn’t taken his shirt off earlier.

“You know for a human, you’re pretty cute.” Lio’s body pressed against his, small and smooth-skinned and scorching hot. 

“T-thanks,” Galo said, not sure where Lio was going with this. Or why his hands had started wandering, past Galo’s arm to softly touch his chest now, Lio leaning in closer and closer by the second. “You’re really cute, too, Lio.”

Lio’s smile shined at him in the dark of the bedroom, so close he could see the light in his magenta eyes. “Thanks, I know.”

Lio’s hands were small, fingers soft as they trailed up and down and all around Galo’s bare chest in teasing caresses. He felt terribly guilty about it but it really was turning Galo on, his burning instincts couldn't help but react to someone so cute touching him so…  _ intimately _ . He could bear with it though - if Lio needed someone warm to fall asleep with, Galo wasn’t going to force him to sleep alone. He could endure this!

He could hear Lio’s voice chuckling again, and Galo forced himself to look at him. Lio was smirking at him now, and he squirmed his way entirely on top of Galo, his slender body laying lazily on Galo’s chest to chest and very nearly groin to groin. 

“We’re connected, you know.” Lio said, voice soft and smooth. “Our blood is connected by the pact between us. You know what that means?”

Galo shook his head.

Lio smiled. “It means I can feel your desire for me.”

Galo shivered, turning bright red. “You can probably feel that just from where you’re sitting,” he said honestly.

Lio laughed again, low and deep and all kinds of sexy. This was bad, this was so bad for Galo’s health. Lio sat up a little, moving his legs to straddle Galo’s hips with his thighs and putting all his weight right on Galo’s increasingly significant hard-on, and nevermind that was WAY worse for his health!

His tiny hands were moving over Galo’s chest again, and he all but purred out. “You can have me, Galo.” Galo’s heart stopped in his chest, then picked up again to do double-time. “It can count as your wish.”

He’d said the words seductively, but they had the opposite effect on Galo. Galo was sitting up in an instant, grabbing Lio’s hands and shouting an earnest, “I couldn't do that! You have to have more respect for yourself, Lio! You can’t sleep with someone just because you want to go home!”

Lio blinked at him, jaw dropping. “What are you talking about?”

“I understand you want to go home, Lio, and we’ll think of a way soon! But you can’t just sell your body like that! I’m sorry Lio, but you have to take better care of yourself than that!”

Lio’s face scrunched up, like an internal battle was going on inside him. “Are you rejecting me?”

Galo nodded, still holding onto Lio’s hands. They were small in his, like they’d be fragile or something. “I’m sorry, but I’m not the type of guy who can do that with someone who doesn’t really want to.”

Lio gave him another one of those weird looks like Galo was an idiot, but eventually settled on bursting out in laughter.

“Fine,” he slipped his hands out of Galo's grip, rolling off of his lap to lay back down on the other side of the bed again. “You win. Don’t wake me up with your snoring or I’ll set your bed on fire.”

Galo sighed, relieved and sort of secretly disappointed. OR at least his dick was disappointed, even if the rest of him was relieved. 


	2. Chapter 2

Lio Fotia woke up cold. 

That was stupid. He had never woken up cold before, not even once in his long demonic life. Being cold meant he was too low on energy for the fires within to heat his body properly, which could only happen if he wasn’t down in the Demon Realm to feed of the mana that permeated that dimension. He was on Earth, and he’d need to feed if he wanted to keep up a stable form.

Feed. What was there to feed on though? God he was tired. He needed raw energy, needed the mana from living beings to feed his own internal flames. What was there, though? And did he really need to get out of bed to find it?

No, he realized sleepily, he didn’t need to. There was a wonderful source of warmth just a few inches away, and all he had to do was roll over and take it for himself.

He found Galo’s arm first, and the instant Lio’s hand touched his skin he could feel that warmth seeping into him. It was wonderful, a feeling like being warmed up from the outside in, his skin tingling where he made contact with Galo. He slid closer still, legs tangling with Galo’s and pressing his face into his neck, breathing in deep to find himself dizzy with the human’s strong, musky scent. That was kind of nice in its own way, too.

He could pull a little bit of the human’s energy from him like this, steal from him a taste of the warmth from the flame that burned within Galo’s soul. It was enough to warm him up again but it could be better, it could be _ more_, and Lio wanted a taste of it.

He unwrapped himself from Galo just enough to slither up a few inches, where he could reach his face. Lio grabbed a hold of Galo’s chin, tilting it towards him so he could lean up and press his lips against Galo’s.

The flood of energy from Galo into Lio was almost instant at the contact, and Lio moaned into the kiss. Wonderful. Like drinking ambrosia straight from the source, Galo’s warmth seeping into him and lighting Lio up even brighter than the fires of Hell could heat him.

He moaned into the kiss, and so did Galo. Galo’s hands were moving now, landing on Lio’s back to pull his body closer still and hold him there. “Mmm, Lio,” he hummed against Lio’s mouth, hands tightening on his back. Lio kissed him again, not even to steal a taste of his energy as much as just for another taste of that warmth that filled his body when they kissed. 

“Mm,” Galo hummed again, this time shorter and more confused sounding. “Mm, wait, Lio?”

Lio hummed this time, but the hands on his waist were moving now, not leaving a much as shoving Lio away to break the kiss. Lio huffed in a pout, refusing to go very far because Galo’s warmth far too tempting to peel himself away from.

“Lio, what are you doing?” Galo asked, sitting up to look down at Lio in his bed. “Couldn’t that have waited until I was awake?”

Lio shook his head. “I was cold. I needed to feed off your mana.”

Galo just blinked in confusion, but shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean by that, but if you wanted an excuse to kiss me, you should just say so! Although I don’t usually kiss people after only knowing them one day.”

Lio tilts his head to the side, frowning. “So what, no kissing?”

“Um,” Galo glanced to the side with a blush. “Maybe not yet. I’m not one to rush into relationships so fast.”

Lio laughed into his pillow. This human was so weird! Lio had no idea if he liked him or hated him. 

But he was a pretty good kisser.

Lio wanted to be in a good mood now that he was warmed up on his fill of Galo, but it didn’t last long. The warmth he’d stolen was enough to keep him from getting tired again but not from getting cold, and he didn’t want to even bother to leave this bed when it was the warmest spot in the entire apartment. Blankets and everything.

But Galo had already left the bed to go start breakfast, and his side of the bed was cooling rapidly. Also whatever Galo was making in the kitchen smelled really good. He didn’t really gain much from eating other than the pleasure of taste and texture, but… wasn’t that enough?

With a sigh, Lio rolled himself out of bed. Looked out the window to see that it was snowing outside, which, really was just his luck. No wonder he was freezing cold. He’d noticed how cold it was outside yesterday when they’d went shopping, but he’d still been full of mana from the demon realm and had been able to keep himself warm enough that it hadn’t bothered him. Now he was already drained, and the only thing there was to feed off in this realm was mortals. And feeding off of one of them the way he’d just fed off of Galo seemed so… distasteful. He’d rather be cold.

Speaking of which, he really didn’t feel like strapping back into his leather outfit. Fine, there had to be some clothes he could steal from this ridiculous human, didn’t there? Maybe he’d even have something warm.

Lio opened a drawer and was pleased to find a hooded sweatshirt. It was far too big for him but the fabric was worn and comfortable, and Lio picked out a pair of plain shorts from another drawer to wear with it.

Not bad, actually. Humans certainly did know how to make themselves comfortable. Lio could almost get used to a place like this.

The thought reminded him of home, and the fact that was stuck here until further notice. Lio frowned, thinking that he had to get in contact with Meis and Gueira as soon as he could. He’d need to start a fire to do that though, and considering Galo had explained that his job was to FIGHT fires that meant he’d probably be opposed to Lio igniting one in his apartment. So he’d need to wait until he was alone to do it.

For now, breakfast. He padded into the kitchen on bare feet, finding Galo shirtless and cooking sausages and eggs on the stove. A basic staple of food even in the demon realm, but like he’d said to Galo yesterday it wasn’t something he himself got to indulge in. His Mad Burnish actually needed food to survive, and that was far more important.

Galo glanced at Lio and turned red, eyes darting down to the bare calves of Lio’s legs for half a second before turning back to the stove. “We’re gonna need to buy you clothes if you’re gonna stay here long, aren’t we?”

“I don’t have to stay here long if you send me back,” Lio said reasonably, sitting down at the table and waiting for breakfast to be finished cooking. 

“Aw, but it’s kind of nice having you around,” Galo smiled. “I’ve never liked being alone, so it’s real nice to have someone to hang out with at home! You’re pretty good company, for a demon!”

Lio huffed, but didn’t have time for a pissy comeback before Galo was serving up breakfast. Was it so wrong to want to go home? His tribe needed him, without someone as powerful as an Archdemon leading and protecting them they could lose their territory and their homes. 

Galo served him his breakfast, and Lio took it gratefully. Technically it shouldn't have been anything special but Lio found himself drooling over the taste of it anyway, digging into his food like he was starving for it. God, he’d have to figure out a way to bring home some human food with him when he went back.

“I’ve got a little bit of time before I have to go to work,” Galo told him as he put the dirty dishes in the sink. “You wanna watch TV or play a game or something?”

Lio didn’t know what Galo’s definition of a game was, but he was afraid to find out. “TV is fine,” Lio said, already heading over to the couch.

Galo patted his shoulder as he passed Lio on his way to the living room, plopping down on the couch first and turning the TV on. “I’ll pick out a movie, something simple you can follow.”

“No more ‘comedies,’” Lio said as he settled into sitting. “I don’t understand your human sense of humor yet.” 

Galo just laughed, pressing buttons on the stick that controlled the TV window and selecting a movie. “No problem! If I pick a fantasy, then we’ll both be learning the setting from scratch!”

Lio shrugged, rubbing at his cold bare legs and wondering if he should give up and go out his real pants back on.

It was true that this time he could actually follow the plot of the play going on inside the TV window, though. Yesterday had been a stream of random human nonsense Galo had called “Reality TV,” but this had a coherent cast of characters and a setting Lio could understand, so he ended up getting a little bit sucked into the show.

He’d almost be enjoying himself, if he weren’t so goddamned COLD. he scooted closer to Galo on the couch, leaning into the larger man to try and soak up some of his body heat through contact.

Galo’s arm wrapped around his shoulders automatically. “What’s wrong Lio? You cold?”

Lio nodded, snuggling into Galo’s side and glancing up at him through his eyelashes. “Warm me up, Galo?” He purred, allowing his demonic charm to rumble out like a harmony with the sound of his voice. He wanted Galo’s hands on him, damn it, even if he had to cheat a little to get it.

Galo looked down at him with a light blush, and Lio could feel the faint stirrings of desire for him through their shared connection. “I’m sorry,” Galo apologized, and then for some reason gently detached Lio from his side to stand up. “I didn’t even think of that! If you’re made of fire you probably don’t do well when it snows, huh?”

Lio opened his mouth to explain that while fire was his native element he was still technically classified as an incubus and therefore not in fact made of fire at all, but figured that was useless and kept his mouth shut. Just watched as Galo darted up from the couch to run into the kitchen, declaring that he needed “Two minutes and I’ll be right back!”

There was a faint beeping noise followed by a continuous low hum, and Galo ran off back to his bedroom. When he came back to the living room he had a huge blanket with him, which he wasted no time in draping over Lio’s small shoulders. “Here, I’ll be right back with the cocoa!”

Lio sighed. Idiot was even immune to magic. Of course he was - he was an idiot. Lio had just enough time to make a cocoon out of the quilt he’d been handed when the humming stopped to beep again instead, and Galo futzed around for a minute before returning with two steaming mugs and handing one to Lio.

He accepted it because it was warm, and not because he was grateful. Galo was still an idiot, even if he was a sweet considerate idiot who was letting Lio cuddle back up to his side again while he resumed the movie. 

Lio took a sip of the cocoa. It was hot, and sweet, and had little white bits of soft candy floating inside the field of liquid chocolate. Lio drank the whole mug, liking the way it warmed his insides on the way down his throat. 

Galo went to work after the movie. “I’d love to take you with,” he explained, “To meet the gang and hang out or whatever! But the truth is Fire Stations aren’t at all like in the movies, and we do a lot more than just waiting around for fires to strike. It’s better for you to wait here for now.”

“And what am I supposed to do here?” Lio huffed in annoyance. “I’m not your pet, you know!”

“Hmm, that’s a good point.” Galo conceded. “I guess for today you can just watch TV, maybe see what you can learn about human culture or something. I’m sure you’re real busy back in Hell or wherever you come from, so you can think of this as time off to relax!”

That was almost a good point. “Just be back soon. I don’t like getting bored.”

Galo laughed, patting him on the head as he left.

It took a few minutes to remember that now he was alone, and could finally try and contact his comrades back home. He blamed it on the warm couch. It was hypnotizingly comfortable.

Eventually he peeled himself off the comfort of the couch to search out a safe place in the house he could start a fire. It took him a while to remember the stove existed, and while it wasn’t quite the kind of oven they used in the demon realm, he had seen the flames it emitted himself while Galo had been cooking.

The fire under the burner was small, but it was easy to manipulate it into growing big enough to see out of. After that it was only a matter of connecting the fire to one in the Demon Realm and contacting Meis and Gueira with it.

It didn’t even take long to explain his situation, although his two lieutenants did laugh at his situation once it had been explained. Not that he’d mentioned the finer details of what he and Galo had been doing together, considering that would only make them laugh even harder than just being trapped on Earth with an indecisive human was. They didn’t need to know he was sweet and cute on top of it.

The important part was he check on the state of his Mad Burnish, and make sure nothing had gone wrong while he’d been away. He’d been reassured it was only a day since he’d disappeared and he should probably learn to relax, because not even they were so badly hunted down that they needed their leader every minute of every day.

Relax. Why did people keep telling Lio he needed to relax? He wasn’t uptight, he was just… passionate! He had concerns, damn it!

Still, they had a point. It wouldn’t hurt Lio to just squirm his way back into the warm spot on the couch and doze off watching TV for a few hours, would it?

He woke up to the door opening, and Galo’s loud footsteps stomping his way home. “Lio! I’m back early!”

“Are you?” Lio sat up, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes. He hadn’t even had time to get bored and snoop around yet. 

Galo nodded, coming inside without taking off his boots. “When I asked the boss for a few days off to spend time with a friend from out of town, he told me that since was the first time I’d ever taken a day off I could start right now! I still told them to call me if they need an extra hand, though.”

Lio nodded. “That sure was nice of them. So now what?”

“Now?” Galo grinned, and threw a jacket at Lio’s face. “Now we go play in the snow!”

Lio blinked at him from under the coat. “...Pardon me?”

Galo just grinned and took him to the bedroom to get a warmer pair of pants so he could drag him outside into the cold.

When they got outside, Lio didn’t really understand what they were doing out there. He’d seen snow before in certain sections of the Demon Realm so it’s not like this was some brand new exciting experience for him, even if he’d never lived in those places before so he’d only seen it on rare occasions. It still wasn’t a new phenomenon that Lio could marvel at, like some of those human inventions. 

Galo still dragged him out to the apartment’s small courtyard by the hand, to the small area that had been grassy yesterday and now was a smooth patch of mostly unbroken snow. Lio stood around awkwardly and wondered if he was supposed to be doing something while Galo looked at the snowing sky and shouted into it that it was a beautiful day.

“Lio!” He turned to the demon with one of those smiles that was bigger and more sincere than any smiles Lio had ever witnessed before. “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

Lio just crossed his arms. “What the fuck is a snowman?”

Galo just laughed. “Here, help me gather up a bunch of snow! We’re gonna shape it into balls and then stack them on top of each other, like a sculpture!”

“Oh, we’re just making a sculpture? That’s not so…” Bad? Not such complete nonsense as just flailing around in the snow with nothing to do? Whatever. Either way, if Lio helped the faster they could get out of here and get back inside where it was warm. 

He’d put back on his leather gloves and boots, but neither of which were made for the snow, and probably clashed horribly with the oversized spare winter coat he’d gotten from Galo. It was enough to keep him warm though, and enough to enable him to dip his hands into the snow to gather some up to add to Galo’s growing sphere. 

The snow on the ground was shallow and fresh, so it didn’t take long to run out in any given area. They wound up rolling the ball they were making on the ground to gather up the sticky snow onto it that way, and by the time Galo had declared it a sufficient size the snowball was taller than Lio’s knees.

“Two more!” Galo declared. “Each one smaller than the last, so we can stack them without the top one rolling off!” He laughed, starting up a new snowball. 

Lio nodded, and only halfway through the second ball realized there was no logical reason he had to follow Galo out into the snow and do this. Well. He was already here now, wasn’t he? No point in giving up halfway and leaving Galo all alone in the cold to build his silly snowman by himself. 

And it wasn’t like Lio was totally miserable, even with the cold. He’d been in snow only briefly to march through it before, and neither him nor his soldiers had thought to stop and enjoy the soft white fluff that covered their boots. They hadn’t had time to enjoy a lot of things, what with always being on the move to avoid persecution. 

But this... this was nice. It was silly and a pointless waste of time, but by the time it came to stacking the snowballs on top of each other and trying to get them to stay in a solid mass of snow, Lio could honestly say he was enjoying himself. Lio didn’t have a lot of time to waste on frivolous things, and as much as he needed to get back, the longer he stayed here with this human… the longer he _ wanted _to stay. 

Galo found a couple of branches form one of the trees in the courtyard and stuck them in the sides of their snowman, vaguely resembling spindly arms. “I don’t have anything to make the face out of,” Galo explained next, using his finger to draw a smiley face into the snow on the head of the sculpture. “So this will have to do!”

“He’s very handsome,” Lio said, feeling a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “You built a fine Snow Man.”

“_ We _ made him, you mean!” Galo patted Lio on the back. “Thanks for coming out with me, Lio! I don’t even remember how many years it’s been since I played in the snow, but it was a lot of fun with you along!”

Lio nodded, his hair bobbing around his face at the action. “Yeah, I guess it was fun. But you still dragged me out here in the cold,” he said, discreetly hiding a fistful of snow behind his back. 

Galo was probably about to apologize for that, but Lio didn’t give him time. He was already leaning up on his tip toes to smash the snow he was holding down the front of Galo’s shirt, causing the human to yelp out in shock and stumble a few steps backwards to fall on his ass.

Now Lio was laughing, and Galo looking up at him in surprise like that was the last thing he had expected from the demon. But it didn’t take long before the grin overtook Galo’s face, and soon he was grabbing a fistful of snow to launch it at Lio and pelt him right in the side of the head.

The snow was cold enough to sting but the hit didn’t hurt otherwise. It was the starting blow to a snowball fight though, and the two men spent the next few minutes trying to smash as much snow into the other’s face and clothing as possible under the guise of a friendly game.

Lio didn’t even notice how much fun he was having until it was over, until Galo was finishing the fight by picking Lio’s smaller body up and dropping him directly into a snowbank by the side of the parking lot. And then he only noticed because of how badly he was laughing, so hard it was making his sides ache from his own laughter as he dragged Galo down with him to smash his face into the bank of snow.

It only ended because they were both laughing too hard to keep fighting. Not that Lio would really use the word ‘fight’ for what had just occurred, not when there was no real violence and not even a drop of bloodshed. But whatever it had been it was enjoyable, and now they were both sitting in a cold snowbank as their laughter died down and sort of just looking at one another, cheeks flushed red from the cold and hearts still pounding from adrenaline. 

Galo’s body was close enough to be the only source of warmth. Lio thought he wouldn’t mind staying in the snow a little longer, if it meant he and Galo could keep sharing this moment.

They went back inside eventually. Lio used his fire magic to warm himself back up - the only element he had control over, or else he’d have swamped Galo with an entire wave of snow while they were play fighting. 

But his magic wasn’t enough. Lio still found himself cold and tired, and he realized it was due to the drain on his magic that the human world had on him. It was taking all of his energy just to keep a stable form, and now that he’d gone a whole day with only minor contact with a human to feed from he was exhausted. The snow definitely hadn’t helped his cause.

He needed energy. It didn’t have to be a lot, but it had to be soon, or else Lio was going to fall asleep in his dinner. Galo had already started cooking again while Lio had been trying to warm himself back up with a bath, so he padded into the kitchen to get a bite to eat for himself.

He wrapped his arms around Galo’s waist where he stood at the stove, soaking up both his warmth and a tiny taste of his energy while he was at it. “What are you making?” He asked, looking over Galo’s shoulder to watch the stove.

“Hamburgers,” he said as he flipped the meat simmering on the stovetop. He reached around himself to pat Lio’s head gently, Galo’s large hand tangling in his still damp hair. “How was your bath?”

“Warm,” Lio answered, still not removing himself from Galo’s back. “What’s a hamburger?”

“You’ll find out when you eat it!” Galo said back with natural cheer, turning around in Lio’s arms to face him. And then blinked down at Lio in surprise, face turning bright red and eyes averting away from Lio as he announced needlessly, “Lio! You’re still naked!”

“So what?”

Galo shoved him away gently. “At least go put your pants back on!”

Lio didn’t. Lio picked out another one of Galo’s clean fresh shirts and put that on instead, and then returned directly to Galo’s side to steal more of his warmth. And possibly a little more mana. What could he say, he was hungry and Galo had energy to spare.

“You’re being awfully… affectionate tonight,” Galo said as he served the meat patties onto some bread and piled on a few vegetable-like ingredients on top. Lio watched as he covered the whole stack with another piece of bread, serving both of the breaded meat stacks onto plates and handing one to Lio.

Lio ignored the food for the moment. “I’m hungry,” he told Galo honestly. “And I can’t get sustenance from this food. It’s already dead, and I need to feed off the living.”

Galo blinked at him. “Like a vampire?”

Lio shrugged. “Sure, but vampires are pretentious dicks. I’m technically an incubus. Much less uptight.”

Galo laughed. “So what, you’re feeding off our cuddles right now?”

Lio smiirked up at him. “That’s not all I can feed off of. I just need,” his put a hand to Galo’s chest, “_Physical contact _.”

He leaned up on his tiptoes, stealing another kiss from Galo before the human had time to react. 

“L-Lio!” Galo blushed, covering his mouth with the back of one hand. “Stop making fun of me and eat your dinner.”

“I just did,” Lio grinned back at him.

Nevertheless, the hamburger was pretty good, too.

Time passed, and Lio got used to the human world. TV was a great learning experience, and once he understood Galo’s phone and could be trusted not to break it it had even MORE information - literally anything in the entire human world he found confusing could be looked up and explained with that device, so it didn’t take long to get used to the human lifestyle.

They still slept in the same bed, half so Lio could feed off Galo while they slept and half because the bed was warm and the couch was not as much so so there seemed like no reason for either of them to sleep there to begin with. 

Lio ate human foods at the same time as Galo, even if in significantly smaller portions than the large human who actually needed the food to survive. Lio only ate because he enjoyed it, a luxury he was rarely afforded back where he came from. It was one of the most enjoyable parts of the day. 

For some reason, Lio found that crawling into bed with Galo was his favorite part of every night.

They also finally went clothes shopping for him. Galo took io down to the local department store to pick out outfits that would actually fit him so he could stop stealing clothes from Galo every day, as well as theoretically finally wearing pants again. You know. Theoretically.

The department store had been huge, and filled with clothes almost as far as the eye could see. Lio had spent hours trying on different outfits to see what he liked, and Galo had paid for everything he picked out with a happy smile and the reassurance that Galo would rather Lio have the clothes than he have the money to pay for it all.

The most fun part of that adventure had been when it came to buy underwear. Lio hadn’t liked anything in the men’s section and ended up wandering over to the women’s lingerie section, where had had spent the better part of an hour trying on… “outfits” and dragging Galo into the fitting room to ask to see how they looked on him. His embarrassment Lio couldn’t feed off of, but the lust he could and both were pretty fun to inspire.

He’d even ended up picking out a couple of dresses from the women’s section - he was perfectly aware of the phenomenon of gendered clothing, he just saw no reason to participate in such frivolities. Especially when he could wear an entire outfit and be decent in public without having to put on pants.

Clothes were fun but TV was better, and Lio found himself sucked into a drama show without having even seen the first episode. He liked the charm of TV, liked being able to lose himself in a story and not think about anything but what was on the screen for a few long hours of mindless blankness. He’d been thinking about war for far too long.

He kept checking in on Meis and Gueira and his army, of course If ever they had needed help Lio would have forced Galo to send him home in an instant, but so far, every tie he communicated with things back home things were running perfectly smoothly even without his continued actual presence. He gave out a few ordered and helped with a few ideas, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle from the Human World.

“Lio?” Galo came home from an errand to the bank a little too early one afternoon, while Lio was still talking to his friends through the flames on the kitchen stove. 

Galo walked into the kitchen to see that the flame on the stove had grown to almost a foot tall, and, being a fire _ fighter _, promptly freaked out about it. “Lio, the stove is on fire!”

“Yeah, sorry,” Lio apologized, “I knew you wouldn’t like it, so I try to wait until you’re gone to start one. I needed it to communicate back with my allies in the Demon Realm.”

And with a flick of his wrist and a turn of the stove’s knob the fire was out, communication with Meis and Gueira cut off for the night in an instant.

Galo stared at him with awe. “You just put out that entire fire so fast, Lio! Just a wave of your hand and it was gone! You didn’t even break a sweat!”

“Fire is my native element,” Lio answered reasonably. “It follows my whims, and would never hurt me.”

Galo had a look on his face that Lio had never quite seen before, one of absolute awe and wonder. “Fire can’t hurt you?” He said, and unconsciously put a hand to rub over the part of his left arm he always kept covered up. “That’s… amazing, Lio!” He eventually said, grabbing both of Lio’s hands in his own. “If you stayed here on Earth, you could become a firefighter with me! Think of how many people’s lives you could save if you can put out fires with a wave of your hand!”

Lio binked up at him, surprised. “Lives I could... Save?” He repeated tentatively. Fire wasn’t for saving lives, not even his. All his powers had ever done to protect people had been when he was fighting off other demons putting his people’s lives in danger, but that wasn’t the same thing. He was still using it for destruction, still using his powers to singe the flesh off of his enemies instead of being able to heal his allies.

But Galo had seen his powers and instead of being afraid of them, instead of associating fire with the destruction it caused, had instantly thought of the only way he could use his powers to help people. To save people's lives. To save some of those short, precious human years that flew by so fast… Could Lio really do such a thing?

He wanted to, he realized. He wanted to try and save people's lives, instead of always fighting all the time. And he wanted to stay on Earth to do it. Wanted to stay here for as long as he could, and he wanted to stay with Galo or else it would all be pointless and he might as well go back home.

Lio didn’t have any words. He just leaned up to Galo to press a kiss to the man’s lips, long and slow and without even taking a taste of Galo’s energy.

“Thank you, Galo,” he said against his lips. “I’d love to fight fires with you.”

Galo stared down at Lio, a different kind of wonder in his eyes now to accompany the blush spread across his cheeks. Then he grinned, picking up Lio by the waist and spinning him in a circle right there in the kitchen, shouting out, “We’ll make an amazing team, Lio! I can’t wait!”

Lio laughed, and when Galo set him back down on unsteady feet, it was the firefighter’s turn to initiate a kiss. _ ‘Finally _ ,’ Lio thought as he wound his arms up around Galo’s neck to pull himself closer onto the kiss. ‘_Fucking finally._’

\--


End file.
